Guide to the Emil J. Gumbel (1891-1966) Collection, undated, 1912-1967

AR 7267

Subgroup I: Political, Undated, 1915-1967.

Series 1: Eitelkeitsbücher, 1916-1964.

Scope and Content:

Gumbel collected clippings and articles about himself in scrapbooks, which he called Eitelkeitsbuecher (vanity books). They include information on his pacifist and socialist activities, his trips to the Soviet Union, and his expulsion from the faculty of the University of Heidelberg.

The types of materials range from mentions in mainstream German and American press to lecture announcements in Aufbau. Much of the early material comes from socialist, communist, and pacifist publications.

These scrapbooks are very fragile. Most of the clippings are taped or glued to the pages.

Series 2: Political Writings, Undated, 1914-1965.

Scope and Content:

This series consists primarily of scrapbooks of Gumbel's pacifist and anti-fascist writings. Particularly in the 1920s and early 1930s, he focused on pacifism, renewed German militarism, and the so-called Fememorde, a series of right-wing political murders during the Weimar Republic.

This series also includes the typed proofs for a book about political terror in Germany during the 1920s. This work appears to be unpublished in this form, although sections appeared in his book "Verräter verfallen der Feme" (1929). Also found here are a folder of typescripts and two folders of loose clippings and publications, as well as posters advertising Gumbel's talks about Landesverrat and Fememord in the 1920s.

Indexes include Gumbel's own handwritten index to his articles, 1916-1932 (alphabetical by journal) and a typewritten editor's index to Gumbel's articles, 1916-1965 (chronological).

The scrapbooks are very fragile. Most of the clippings are taped or glued to the pages.

Series 3: Reports for the Office of Strategic Services, Undated, 1934-1945.

Scope and Content:

This series contains typescripts, notes, and research material of reports about Nazism in Germany and Europe that Gumbel prepared for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) at the end of World War Two. It also contains a small amount of correspondence.

Series 4: Subject Files, 1915-1967, bulk 1933-1939.

Arrangement:

This series follows Gumbel's groupings as best as possible. The first three subseries contain mostly previously microfilmed materials, whose ordering and grouping were maintained. The remaining subseries were previously undescribed and unarranged. New materials relating to first three subseries were placed into their proper intellectual location, and can be distinguished from the previously microfilmed materials by their lack of alphanumeric location in parenthesis in the title.

Scope and Content:

Gumbel was a prolific collector of newspaper clippings about topics of interest to him. He arranged many of these into subject files. The first three subseries primarily contain clippings, and some other printed material, about Nazi political terror in the 1930s. The clippings are from German newspapers, including left-wing and Communist papers, as well as some from French and English publications. There are also typed copies, a few handwritten statements, and a few of Gumbel's notes.

The fourth subseries, containing Communist and anti-Nazi publications, is of particular note. It includes Tarnschriften (camouflaged publications), pamphlets with innocuous false covers containing Communist and anti-Nazi messages. Also found here are fliers and newsletters printed in France and Belgium for clandestine distribution in Germany, such as the Reinhart Briefe and the Sievers Korrespondenz (SIKO).

This series also contains a very small number of clippings about Fememord, as well as extensive clippings about France, World War Two, and some miscellaneous folders.

Subseries A: Murder, 1933-1938.

Scope and Content:

The clippings in this subseries concern Nazi political murder. They are primarily from German newspapers, including many left-wing and Communist papers, as well as some French and English newspapers. Also found here are typed copies, pamphlets, and press releases.

Subseries B: Nazi Terror, 1933-1939.

Scope and Content:

The clippings in this subseries concern Nazi terror generally. They are primarily from German newspapers, including many left-wing and Communist papers, as well as some French and English newspapers. Also found here are typed copies, pamphlets, and press releases.

Box 3, Folder 18 (Personal accounts of atrocities) contains typed copies, handwritten statements, and Gumbel's notes regarding personal suffering under the Nazi regime.

Subseries C: Reichstag Fire, 1933-1934.

Scope and Content:

The clippings in this subseries concern the Reichstag fire, especially the sham trial in late 1933. They are primarily from German newspapers, including many left-wing and Communist papers, as well as some French and English newspapers. Also found here are typed copies, pamphlets, and press releases.

Subseries D: Communist, Socialist, and Anti-Nazi Publications, 1926-1945.

Scope and Content:

This subseries primarily contains German communist and anti-Nazi and anti-fascist publications. It also includes some similar American publications. Also found here are a folder of 1930s German Communist Tarnschriften (camouflaged publications), pamphlets with innocuous false covers containing Communist and anti-Nazi messages. This subseries includes 28 of the "Reinhart Briefe," which were anti-Nazi pamphlets published by socialist politician and journalist Willi Eichler. The four-page leaflets were printed in France in the 1930s without title or date, and secretly distributed in Germany. This may be the most complete set of this publication. It also contains 15 issues of the Sievers Korrespondenz (SIKO), a six-page anti-Nazi pamphlet published by Max Sievers in Belgium, also for secret distribution in Germany. The subseries also includes publications and circulars by German pacifist Otto Lehmann-Russbüldt, including some copies of his Rundbrief des Flüchtlings.

Subseries E: Fememorde, 1915-1931, 1964.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains a few publications, primarily pamphlets and clippings, which may have been sources for Gumbel's work on German rearmament and Fememorde (political murder in the wake of World War One). It also contains one later reference to Gumbel's work in this area.

Subseries F: France, 1934-1946.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains clippings about France, with a particular focus on French fascism and the Vichy government. The clippings from the 1930s are primarily French newspapers, while those from the 1940s and later are mainly New York papers such as the New York Times and emigrant papers like Aufbau and Pour la Victoire.

Subseries G: World War Two, 1939-1952.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains clippings about World War Two and its aftermath. The folders are based on Gumbel's arrangement. The clippings are mostly from the New York Times and other New York papers. There is some European press as well. Also found here are some pamphlets and circulars, and a report from a 1952 conference in London about Germany's external debt.

Subseries H: Various, 1929-1967.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains folders with clippings about the Soviet Union, the Moscow show trials, and Axel Springer, as well as two folders of miscellaneous clippings. The clippings come from German, French, and American newspapers.

Subgroup II: Scholarly and Personal, Undated, 1912-1966.

Series 1: Scholarly Material, Undated, 1912-1966.

Arrangement:

This series is divided into two subseries, Subseries A: Writings, and Subseries B: Other Academic Material. The subseries are arranged alphabetically by folder title. Academic publications are arranged by year of publication.

Scope and Content:

This series contains material relating to Emil J. Gumbel's academic work as a mathematician. The primary topic of Gumbel's work was statistics, particularly the predictability of extreme events. Such inquiry is relevant to wide range of fields, and Gumbel's work reflects this, as his theorem found application in fields from engineering and meteorology to actuarial analysis. Subseries 1 contains his writings, from hundreds of published articles and reports to lectures and reviews. Subseries 2 contains other academic material such as reviews of Gumbel's work, programs for conferences where he presented, notes, and various other materials.

Subseries A: Writings, Undated, 1912-1966.

Scope and Content:

The primary topic of Gumbel's work was statistics, particularly the predictability of extreme events. Such inquiry is relevant to wide range of fields, and Gumbel's articles thus address fields from engineering and meteorology to actuarial analysis. A bibliography of Gumbel's articles, from 1958, lists 221 published articles. Also found in the Publication Indexes folder are various incomplete handwritten and typewritten indexes to Gumbel's work. The published works include articles, off-prints, and some proofs. The scrapbook contains clippings, pasted to the pages, of professional short articles, reviews, and letters written by Gumbel.

Also found in this series are a few typescripts of Gumbel's academic works, mainly shorter works. Some have handwritten annotations. This also includes mimeographed copies of some typescripts.

Additional writings include reports from early 1950s, prepared for various military organizations, on statistical questions relating to extreme values; typescripts of lectures delivered by Gumbel at Lyons, Rutgers-Newark, and a SEATO seminar in Bangkok, Thailand; and hundreds of reviews written by Gumbel.

Subseries B: Other Academic Material, 1925-1964.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains other academic material, such as reviews of Gumbel's work, other clippings and papers about him, materials from professional conferences where Gumbel presented, a very small amount of professional correspondence, and some handwritten notes. Research material consists of scientific work relating to Gumbel but not by or about him, and includes photocopies of cover pages of printed material that was removed. The New School and École Libre Des Hautes Études (French University of New York) materials include course listings and announcements of talks and publications.

Series 2: Personal, 1923-1959.

Scope and Content:

This series contains a small amount of personal material, such as an autobiographical sketch from 1928, a few historical booklets about Gumbel's birthplace, Federsee, and a few letters. The correspondence is with Kurt Goldziher, M. Bertillon, and H.A Natan in 1935. There is also one letter to Kurt Karsten in 1959, with an attached essay by Karsten entitled Das Ende von Willi Munzenbergs. The vast majority of Gumbel's correspondence is held by the University of Chicago (see Related Materials).